Spring (KATHY CANNON), Lynn (PEGI BOUCHER) and Lola (JOYCE WILLIAMS), student nurses enrolled in an experimental program at a nearby hospital, are unsuccessful in finding an apartment in Manhattan Beach until they meet Dewey (PAUL HAMPTON), who introduces them to the perfect place, and doubles as landlord and admirer of Lynn.

The organizational meeting, the following day, of this specialized pilot program is chaired by Dr. Sutton (ROBERT SIMON), the hospital's chief administrator. The meeting's end sees a black doctor, Elton (HERB JEFFERSON, Jr.) in desperation being refused a hearing with Dr. Sutton. Lola's reaction to his rejection culminates in a visit she makes to his private ghetto clinic, where learning he has been refused admittance to the hospital staff because of his race, she volunteers her services outside the hospital as a nurse in his clinic.

Spring is assigned, by Dr. McClintock (PAUL GLEASON) to the case of a Vietnam veteran, Domino (DENNIS REDFIELD). Because of a war injury, Domino now has a plastic

plate permanently placed in his brain, and his unwillingness to realize that a continued career of motorcycle racing will greatly endanger his life makes Spring's assignment medical as well as psychological.

Lynn, after an unsatisfactory relationship with Dewey, reluctantly accepts the friendship of Dr. Douglas Selden (JOSEPH KAUFMANN), a resident at her hospital. Meeting accidentally on the beach at the scene of an apparent drowning, their relationship grows as both are somewhat suspicious of the symptoms of the victim's death, and begin to investigate the possibility of death by poisonous, polluted water.

Domino seems to be making more progress with changing Spring's attitude than vice versa. He succeeds in convincing her that only in motorcycle racing does he feel a desire to live. Nonetheless, terrified by the inevitable chance of irreparable brain damage, Spring has succeeded in at least half of her goal-to arrest Domino's negativism as a result of his war experience.

For Elton, serving the black community does not fulfill his greatest goal-to see a black doctor on the staff of the hospital where Lola works. With Lola's aid, he and a fellow black doctor occupy Dr. Sutton's office, and with the intervention of the news media, this revolutionary maneuver effects the needed change.

Lynn and Doug have made great strides in their ecological investigation, and with information drawn from the coroner's report find that the drowned man on the beach may have had symptoms of cholera. Searching to discover his identity so that they may warn all others with whom he has been in contact, they encounter some curious reticence to their probings. One afternoon, Lynn is suddenly attacked in her apartment by a strange man, Ahmed (GEORGE SAWAYA). She and Doug feel this occurrence is somehow linked to their cholera investigation and finally manage to track down the attacker's where-a bouts.

At precisely the moment when all three couples seem to have reached some degree of fulfillment and happiness, tragedy strikes. Domino sustains a serious head injury from a motorcycle accident and his chances of survival are at best uncertain. As Spring awaits him outside the recovery room, Doug and Lynn approach the house of the would-be rapist, Ahmed. As Doug opens the door, he is felled by a bullet from within, and as Lynn flees Ahmed, a nearby detective in turn fatally shoots the gunman. The explanation given by the detective is that Ahmed was in actuality a dealer in heroin and had been trying to cover his tracks ever since the mysterious death of the man on the beach-who, in fact, had not drowned but died from an overdose of heroin. Ahmed had tried to stop the investigations of Doug and Lynn, but when the attack on Lynn had failed to scare them off, he had pursued a more drastic course of action.

As Doug is rushed from an ambulance to emergency surgery for his gunshot wound, Dr. McClintock emerges from surgery to tell Spring that Domino's spiritual recovery is in her hands . . ..

Produced, Written and Directed by .............. George Armitage Director of Photography .......................... John McNichol Film Editor .......................... Alan Collins Music by .......................... Sky Set Decorator ................. Joe Wertheimer

Filmed in Metrocolor Running Time: 80 minutes A New World Pictures Release